Trump Today: President commits to ending South Korean military exercises after meeting Kim Jong Un

Reuters

President Donald Trump on Tuesday committed to ending joint military exercises the U.S. conducts with South Korea that he labeled “provocative” in the first head-to-head meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.

SPARSE AGREEMENT SIGNED

The nine-paragraph agreement Trump and Kim signed in Singapore is short on specifics but calls for denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula as well as the return of the remains of prisoners of war and soldiers missing in action.

Kim told the president that North Korea is also destroying a major missile engine-testing site, according to Trump.

Reuters

NO MORE ‘WAR GAMES’

In a press conference, Trump said the annual exercises with South Korea will end. “We will stop the war games which will save us a tremendous amount of money,” Trump said. “Plus, it is very provocative.” Trump also said, at some point, he would like to withdraw the roughly 30,000 U.S. troops stationed in South Korea.

Later, he complained about the cost of flying planes from Guam to participate in the exercises. “I said where do the bombers come from? Guam. Nearby. I said great. Where is nearby? Six and a half hours. That’s a long time for these big massive planes to be flying to South Korea to practice and drop bombs all over the place and go back to Guam.”

Trump said the issue of human rights — Human Rights Watch describes North Korea as one of the most repressive authoritarian states in the world — was discussed, but only briefly. “It’s rough in a lot of places, by the way,” Trump added.

Trump said North Korea “exploding the cannons in the ocean” moved him to discuss real-estate potential with Kim. “I said, ‘look at that view. That would make a great condo.’ ”

G-7 MUSINGS

Trump also discussed the Group of Seven meeting in Canada, where he continued to express disappointment in the post-event press conference held by Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, in which he said Canada would not be pushed around.

“He is giving a news conference about how he will not be pushed around by the United States. And I say, ‘Push him around’? We just shook hands. It was very friendly. Countries cannot continue to take advantage of us on trade,” Trump said.

He also commented on the photo of the G-7, where German Chancellor Angela Merkel appears to be lecturing him. He said, at the time, they were waiting for the final communique draft. “Actually we were talking, the whole group, about something unrelated to everything,” Trump said.